The Mariners and Cardinals are closing in on a deal to send infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan to Seattle, per a report from Katie Woo and Chad Jennings of The Athletic. That report adds that a third team may be involved. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Rays are the third team. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Tampa is expected to get infielder Ben Williamson from the Mariners in the deal.
A Donovan trade has felt inevitable for quite a while. The Cardinals have been leaning harder into a rebuild this winter. They tried to kick off a reset last offseason but struggled to move their veteran players with no-trade clauses and ended up mostly standing pat. With president of baseball operations John Mozeliak ceding the reins to new president Chaim Bloom after the 2025 campaign, it became clear that the club would push harder to focus on the future.
Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras all had no-trade clauses in their contracts and seemed reluctant to approve deals in the 2024-25 offseason. As last year was winding down, they all publicly expressed a greater openness to playing for new teams in 2026. That has now come to fruition for all three. Gray and Contreras were both traded to the Red Sox, while Arenado landed with the Diamondbacks.
Donovan’s situation was slightly different. Those other three guys were all veterans making eight-figure salaries. Moving them out of St. Louis was partially about slashing the payroll and also about opening up opportunities for younger players as part of the rebuild. Donovan, on the other hand, is still in his arbitration seasons. He will make a relatively modest $5.8MM in 2026 and would be due a raise in 2027.
It wouldn’t be necessary to trade Donovan for financial reasons at that price. But with the Cards expecting their rebuild to last a few years, it made sense to make Donovan available since he’s just two years away from free agency. An extension was another possibility but Donovan is now 29, so he’ll be going into his age-31 season in his first free agent year, and it’s unclear if the Cards will be competitive by then.
Donovan was a case where the front office wouldn’t have to worry about the contract and could focus on simply bringing back as much talent as possible. With his modest salary and inability to block trades, the Cards could scour the league to see what teams were willing to pay in terms of prospect capital. Since Donovan can play all over the diamond, with experience at all four infield positions and the outfield corners, almost any contender could fit him onto the roster.
More to come.
